Polyvagal-Informed, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy: Healing Complex Trauma Through Compassionate Connection

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Alexia Rothman, PhD Related seminars and products

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Dr. Alexia Rothman is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Atlanta, GA, since 2004. She is a lead trainer for the IFS Institute, a Certified Internal Family Systems therapist, an international speaker and educator on the IFS model, and an IFSI-approved professional consultant. Dr. Rothman offers workshops and retreats on the IFS model throughout the U.S. and internationally. She co-hosts the IFS-based podcasts IFS Talks and Conversas IFS and has published a book chapter on the integration of IFS and Polyvagal Theory.

 

Dr. Rothman is a United States Presidential Scholar who graduated summa cum laude from Emory University as a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she was an Edwin W. Pauley Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has held adjunct faculty positions at Emory University and Agnes Scott College.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Alexia Rothman maintains a private practice. She is co-host of the podcasts Conversas IFS and Explorations in Psychotherapy. She is a paid trainer with the IFS Institute, and she receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. Dr. Rothman receives compensation as a consultant. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Alexia Rothman is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Georgia Psychological Association, and the National Register of Health Service Psychologists.

Additional Info

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This product is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification.

Objectives

1. Identify the basic principles of Polyvagal Theory. 
2. Examine how Polyvagal Theory can help therapists implement IFS more safely and effectively with complex trauma. 
3. Utilise IFS strategies to shift nervous systems towards regulation. 
4. Choose interventions to foster relationships with hyperaroused and hypoaroused parts.  
5. Identify strategies to foster relationships with parts that utilise adaptive survival responses, such as fight, flight, freezing, and numbing, for protection. 
6. Determine the impact of the therapist’s internal state on clinical work. 

Outline

Fundamentals of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Theory 

• Structure of the Psyche 
  • Multiplicity of the mind  
  • Parts: Protective and Vulnerable 
  • Burdens 
  • Self

Fundamentals of Polyvagal Theory 

• Structure and function of the Autonomic Nervous System 
  • The regulated nervous system  
  • Adaptive survival states of the nervous system (fight/flight, freeze, shutdown/numb/collapse) 
  • Impact of trauma on the nervous system 
• Three operating principles of the Autonomic Nervous System 
  • Neuroception 
  • Hierarchy 
  • Co-Regulation 
• Fundamental goals of psychotherapy through the lenses of PVT and IFS 

Integration of IFS Theory and Polyvagal Theory 

• Translation of Polyvagal concepts to IFS terminology and vice versa 
• The relationship between parts and the nervous system 
• Self and the nervous system

Polyvagal-Informed IFS Therapy Practice 

• How can an understanding of Polyvagal Theory underlie and support safer and more effective IFS practice? 
• The essential contribution of the Self-led, ventrally regulated presence of the therapist  
• Co-regulation and “internal co-regulation” in IFS therapy 
• Anchoring the client’s system in Self/ventral to enhance the safety and effectiveness of trauma work 
• IFS strategies for working with parts associated with sympathetic and dorsal survival states in the nervous system 
• Analysis of video examples of PVT-informed IFS work
• Limitations of the Research and Potential Risks 

Target Audience

• Psychologists 
• Counsellors 
• Social Workers 
• Marriage & Family Therapists 
• Psychotherapists 
• Other Mental Health Professionals